Hello Friends and Family,We are so sorry that it has been so long since you last heard from us. Access to internet has been extraordinarily difficult (either very slow and expensive or completely unavailable altogether). As a result, it has been extremely difficult for us to keep in touch. I owe so many email messages and feel very sad about how disconnected I have been. So much is happening in all of your lives (new jobs, new babies, new houses, new boyfriends/girlfriends, etc.) and I wish that I could be able to share these experiences more with all of you. But, the trip is almost over and the only good thing about that is that I am going to be able to catch-up with all of the people that I care about. I just hope that you will all forgive me for not staying in better touch!

On to the travelogue... The last time you heard from us about Peru literally was months ago

. It is now October 25th and we are FINALLY able to access internet here in Swakopmund, Namibia. Since Peru, we have been to Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, and Namibia. But, I am getting way ahead of myself. The theme of this travelogue is Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina where we spent most of the month of July. Hopefully, the other instalments should be coming soon if we can find internet on our route through Namibia.

*Copacabana, Bolivia*From Puno (Peru) we took a bus and then a boat over the border to Copacabana (Bolivia) on the other side of Lake Titicaca. No, this is not the Copacabana beach in Rio that Barry Manilow made famous. Rather, it is a charming village where families from La Paz come to swim and picnic on the weekend. We enjoyed a, much needed, beautiful, sunny day to defrost us after the cold of Peru.

*La Paz, Bolivia*After relaxing in the slow pace of Copacabana, we took a three hour bus ride to the capital city, La Paz. The arrival into the city was truly extraordinary as we descended into a valley surrounded by mountains at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters

. The days were beautiful and sunny but it did get very cold at night. It was nice to be back in a city again where we could relax for a few days and catch-up on email and logistics. I actually went and had new lenses made for my glasses since they were so scratched up that I could barely see. So, I decided to get new lenses for $30 US. It seems like a bargain, right? Well, not really. Apparently with my broken Spanish I was not able to explain that I wanted thin lenses that would actually fit my frames. What they gave me were "coke bottle" super thick lenses. Not only did they look stupid, but one lens actually fell out a week later. Luckily, I brought a spare pair of glasses with me. That's what I get for trying to save a few bucks!

After a few days in the city, we decided to get back to nature and so we went off on a 3 day trek, the "Choro" trek, with 2 guides. In 3 days, we went from an altitude of 5,000 meters down to 2,500 meters and both the temperature and landscapes changed dramatically. We started the trek by walking through snow at the top of a mountain and finished the trek in dense, mosquito-infested forest. As the days went on, we just kept removing layers of clothing.

At the end of the trek, we arrived at a small, usually peaceful, village called Coroico where we were scheduled to take a minibus back to La Paz

. However, it turned out that we were there the night before an important political oil referendum and since voting was mandatory, the buses were all filled with people going to La Paz so they could vote. We were finally able to buy bus tickets but only for the 6:00pm bus. This was less than ideal for two reasons. The first reason was that we did not really feel like walking around since there was a riot taking place at the police department in the main town square. There was not a single police officer in sight as townspeople broke the windows and removed all of the furniture from the police department and made a huge bonfire in the town square. The second reason why this late bus was less than ideal was that in order for us to get back up to La Paz, we had to drive up "the most dangerous road in the world." Apparently this road that climbs along the edge of a cliff has the most annual deaths per year of any road in the world. The Lonely Planet advises tourists to not drive up this road:1. At night2. In large buses3. In the rain4. In the fogWell, of course, we were in a large bus, at night, driving up this road in the fog and rain. After all of our near death experiences on buses in India, I have learned to just zone out and not pay attention to anything while on buses

. However, it was a different case for Arnaud. He was sitting at the window on the cliff-side and was completely freaking out the whole time as he was looking down into the vast emptiness off the edge of the cliff. Despite Arnaud almost having a heart attack, we did make it to La Paz safely.

*Jesuit Mission Circuit*From La Paz, we went to Cochabamba and then to Santa Cruz from where we began our journey to see the Missions built by the Jesuits in 5 different small villages. For some reason, Arnaud REALLY wanted to see these churches and being the good wife that I am, I went along with it. Essentially what we did was ride buses on bumpy dusty roads for HOURS from village to village. At each village, we visited the church for about 30 minutes and then walked around the town while we waited to catch our next 5 hour bus ride to the next village. I do admit that the churches were quite interesting architecturally and it was a nice way to see small village life in Bolivia....However, I do not think that it was really worth the hours that we spent on buses. Arnaud loved it, though...especially the feeling of being at the end of the world in another century.

*Sucre / Potosi*We then took another night bus to Sucre, a charming colonial city where we went back even farther in time and visited a cement quarry where they have found the largest and oldest track of dinosaur footprints dating back between 65 and 150 million years

We then took another bus farther south into the mountains to visit the city of Potosi which used to be one of the wealthiest cities in the world thanks to the richness of the mines. Potosi was built by Spaniards who came to Bolivia in search for gold and built beautiful, ornate churches. Sadly, the city is much less rich today and people are still working and dying in the mines for MUCH less money. We went on a visit into the mines and were shocked to see that the working conditions have not improved at all and the life expectancy for miners still remains quite short. Temperatures rise to over 110 degrees and the air is extremely difficult to breathe as you crawl through a labyrinth of tunnels. We were only in the mines for a few hours and I have to say that I was quite happy to get out.

The funny part of our mine visit was our visit to the miners market beforehand where we went to buy gifts to give to the miners. There, at the miners market, they actually sell dynamite and coca leaves (yes, the plant that cocaine is made from. The miners chew on it to help them deal with the conditions in the mines) to anyone. (We have attached a photo of us in our miner outfits holding onto our dynamite and bag of coca leaves.)

*Salaar de Uyuni*From Potosi, we headed off with our new French friends from the mine tour, Alex and Erica, to the city of Uyuni (even farther south)

. The weather is absolutely crazy there...it can be 85 degrees during the day and then drop to 10 degrees at night. The funniest sight that we saw there was a manifestation of school children between the ages of 5 and 10 in front of the mayor's office. They were there with their teachers on a Monday morning for 30 minutes holding up posters and chanting "Queremos desayuno! Queremos desayuno!" (Translation: "We want breakfast.") We found it fascinating that kids were being taught about politics from such a young age.

From Uyuni, we headed off on a 3 day 4x4 guided safari through the Salar de Uyuni (a huge salt desert of several hundred kilometres), the Laguna Verde, and the Laguna Colorado before we were dropped off in Northern Chile. In addition to Alex and Erica, we were also on this tour with a Spaniard, Jesus, and an Italian, Stefano, who were both great fun. It was a blast trying to communicate altogether in a mix of English, French, and Spanish. The scenery was truly magnificent as we passed from a salt dessert to a cactus covered island to several turquoise lagoons to geysers and hot springs.

*Chile and Argentina*Our Salar de Uyuni tour left us in the tourist frontier town of San Pedro de Atecama, Chile

. We had one week before we needed to meet up with our French friend, Sophie, in Rio de Janiero. So, we passed through Northern Chile and Argentina very quickly as we journeyed by bus to Brazil. In Chile, we just visited the Valley de la Luna and the Valley de la Muerte before we headed to Argentina. Then, in Argentina, we passed through Salta and Corrientes where we feasted on amazing steaks and Argentinean wine in fancy restaurants for unbelievably cheap prices...what luxury!. Because of the devaluation of the Argentinean money, Argentina is actually extremely affordable and is a wonderful country to visit. We are definitely planning to go back there to see more on another trip.

*Iguazu Falls*We made it to the Iguazu falls in time to celebrate by 30th birthday in style. Thanks to a Visa gift card given to us before our trip by our group of French friends in Chicago, we splurged on a night at the Sheraton hotel overlooking the falls. It was wonderful and made turning 30 not so bad. I was not actually depressed about turning 30, but it sure felt OLD! And, there I was with no house, no job, no car, no kids, etc. travelling around with a husband, a backpack, and the same few items of clothing that I had been wearing for almost 9 months. So, the luxury definitely felt great and the falls themselves were magnificent (they make the Niagara Falls look tiny in comparison). From the Iguazu Falls, we then headed to Brazil which will be the subject of our next Travelogue.

Overall, Bolivia was a great experience. I cannot say that we really got a real feel for Chile and Argentina, but we were really able to get a great sense for Bolivia

. The people were unbelievably nice and the country itself was extremely beautiful and very diverse. We highly recommend it to anyone wanting to travel in South America.

*Final Thoughts*Well, that is it for now. We only have 3 weeks left of our trip and are enjoying our last moments of travelling here in Namibia. I am sad about the trip being over but I am also looking forward to beginning this next chapter of my life and returning back to "real life." No final decisions have been made yet but we are definitely leaning towards going back to Paris for a little while depending on how the job search goes. At this point in our lives, though, we are not planning to settle down anywhere, but rather want to stay as flexible as possible for whatever opportunities may arise. The ideal scenario would be if we could find something that would allow us to travel back and forth between the U.S. and France. But, who knows if that will be possible. Right now, we are just taking it 1 year at a time.

We miss you all and can't wait to either see you soon or to catch up over the phone.

Lots of love,Vicki & Arnaud

PS: Due to the same technical problem we had with the Peru photos, the photos from Bolivia only start from Potosi.